Читать книгу May Martin’s Sewing Bible: 40 years of tips and tricks - May Martin - Страница 64

Sewing Machine

A sewing machine is an essential piece of equipment for most projects. Ideally, you want one with three controls – stitch width, stitch length and stitch selector – to give enough flexibility. There is a huge range to choose from and it’s best to do a bit of research before you buy, rather than plumping for a cheap model from a catalogue or supermarket, which may be low spec and unreliable. I’d recommend visiting your nearest sewing-machine shop, where they will be able to give you a demonstration and advice on the different models so that you can select the best one for your needs. They will also provide back-up should you require it. Alternatively, is there one in the family that you can use? If it hasn’t been used for a while, clean and oil it or have it serviced before you start sewing.

Sewing-Machine Feet

A sewing machine comes with a couple of basic ‘feet’ which you can use to do lots of different processes. However, more specialised feet are available that you may want to consider investing in – or putting on your wish list! – as your skills develop. Using specific feet for certain techniques can improve the quality and accuracy of your stitching.

Standard Machine Feet

Standard foot: This is the foot that you’ll use for most of your sewing. The sole is fairly flat with a wide gap for working zigzag as well as running stitches.

Buttonhole foot: This either has grooves underneath for the beads of the buttonhole to go through or a plastic or metal sliding gauge.

Zipper foot: Your machine will have a standard zipper foot. These do not always stitch piping well, so you may wish to buy an adjustable one.

Specialised Machine Feet

Here are some of my favourite machine feet and how to use them. Many different kinds are available to help with every conceivable task – I have twenty-five feet that I have collected for my machine over the years.

Invisible zipper foot: Designed specially to sew an invisible zip, as I’ve shown in my Shift Dress, this has two grooves underneath to accommodate the coils of the zip while sewing in place.

Overcasting foot: This has a bar or bars and brushes to the right of the foot. The bar slackens the tension on the top thread and prevents the edge of the seam puckering up when neatening the edges of seams. If you can, use this instead of a standard foot for zigzag neatening as well as for overcasting.

Blind-stitch foot: This foot helps to guide the fabric when working a blind-stitched hem. It can also be adjusted or positioned to aid edge stitching.

Open embroidery foot: Ideal for appliqué or embroidery, as the wide opening at the front of the foot gives a clear view of what you are stitching, while the groove under the sole of the foot helps accommodate the denser types of stitching used in embroidery.

Walking or even-feed foot: This foot has a set of teeth on the underside that connect with the teeth on your machine, gripping both top and bottom layers of fabric when sewing and feeding them evenly through the machine. Excellent for sewing long seams on curtains or for helping to control the layers when quilting. Some models also come with a guide that fits in the back of the foot to aid parallel stitching.

Stitch-in-the-ditch foot: This foot comes with a blade in the middle of the foot. Sit this blade on the seam line and it will follow the join precisely. This foot would be perfect for guiding the stitching on the waistband of my Pencil Skirt or for the binding on the Child’s Smock Apron.

Quarter-inch piecing foot: Position the blade of this foot over the edge of the fabric and machine. Perfect for quilting!

Sewing-Machine Needles

There are different types of machine needle for different applications – for instance, if you are sewing jersey, you wil need a ballpoint needle to avoid splitting the yarn. Once you have chosen which type, then choose a suitable size for the fabric. I've included a chart overleaf showing the different types of machine needle and their areas of application. There are many other specialist kinds of needle that you can purchase, but the ones in the list will cope with all the projects in this book.

Needle Size

The needle ‘gauge’ indicates the size of the needle: the higher the number, the thicker the needle. Needles come in European and American sizing, hence the two numbers on the packet (e.g. 80/12). For the majority of your sewing projects, a universal needle size 80/12 will be fine. I have lots of different-sized needles for use in different projects. These days I tend to buy packets containing just one size rather than a mix of different sizes – it’s easier to keep track of needles that way as I can no longer read the size on the shaft of the needle! Even if your eyesight is super-sharp, it’s still worth putting a sticker on your sewing machine giving the size of machine needle you are currently using.

Top Tips

Change your needle at the end of every major project. Machine needles gradually lose their sharpness with continued use.

Don’t put used needles in the same packet as new ones.

With any project it is essential to test stitch and check the needle size on a double-folded piece of the fabric.

Needle Types & Uses

Bobbins

The bobbin is the spool of thread inserted in the base of your machine that provides the lower thread for machine stitching. You’ll need to read your machine manual for correct winding and insertion of the bobbin, but here are a few additional tips:

Use the correct bobbin for your make and model of machine.

Use the same thread for both bobbin and top thread to create balance when stitching. A different type of thread on the bobbin can result in uneven stitches. (There are occasions when this rule does not apply – for example, when an uneven effect is required in machine embroidery.)

It’s best to wind a couple of bobbins before starting a big project so that you can avoid having to stop and wind a bobbin while in the middle of sewing.

Tension

One of my students recently referred to dealing with and understanding tension as the ‘dark arts’! I thought this was really amusing as it can seem a mysterious business and any problems annoyingly hard to identify. Here’s a brief explanation of how tension works in a sewing machine and what to do if things go wrong.

How Tension is Controlled

Imagine that your top thread and your lower, bobbin thread are on either side of a tug-of-war team. For the perfect tension, you need your threads to be balanced and held, or ‘tugged’, evenly through the tension paths on the top and the bottom of your machine. The stitch should appear the same on both sides of the fabric, neither too tight nor too loose.

Upper thread tension

The thread is taken through tension discs on the upper part of your machine. When the machine foot is up, there is no tension on the thread. Put the foot down and the tension discs hold on and control the upper thread. If you have a tension dial on your machine, the middle three numbers will have a line against them, the middle number indicating the optimum level of tension. Alternatively, your machine may give a digital readout of 0–10, in which 0 indicates no tension and 10 the maximum level. Increase the number and the tension discs will hold on more tightly. Decrease the number and the thread will be held more loosely.

Lower thread tension

Refer to the trouble-shooting section before attempting an adjustment to bobbin tension. The tension is controlled by a tiny screw on the bobbin case and I strongly recommend you seek guidance before altering it.

Balancing tension

If the top thread is too tight or the bottom thread too loose, the bottom thread will show on the top of the seam.

If the top tension is too loose or the bottom tension is too tight, the upper thread will show on the underside of the seam.

Troubleshooting

If you are not sure what is happening to your stitching, thread the top and bottom of your machine with exactly the same type of thread but in contrasting colours and you will be able to see the stitch clearly and have a better idea of how to adjust it. Before you start altering the settings, however, check the following:

Make sure your upper and lower threading is correct – refer to your sewing machine manual for advice.

Is the needle damaged? You may need to replace it.

Are there any fibres or bits of thread caught in the tension disc? Fold a piece of fabric in half and insert it in the tension discs and move up and down.

Do the top and bobbin threads come from the same reel? Ideally, both threads should be from the same reel to ensure that the tension is evenly balanced.

The screw that controls the bottom tension may vibrate loose while working on some machines. The tension can be tightened by turning the screw on the bobbin case in a clockwise direction.

Machine Stitches

Straight Stitch & Zigzag Stitch

The two main types of machine stitch are straight or running stitch and zigzag stitch. A dial or button on your machine regulates the length of the straight stitches; the higher the number the larger the stitch. Most stitching should be sewn in the middle of the range. Another dial or button adjusts the width of the zigzag stitches; again, the higher the number the greater the width of the stitch.

If you choose a straight-stitch setting, the stitch-width dial or button for zigzag stitching can move your needle over, enabling you to work rows of stitching in different positions. With these two ways of setting stitches on your machine, you can change the length and width of any stitch.

Application of Straight Stitch

A medium-size straight stitch is an essential for most construction techniques and decorative topstitching.

Staystitching

This is a row of machine stitching sewn inside the seam line to prevent stretching. It is usually worked on curves to support the grain – for example, along the edge of a neckline. It is worked on a single layer of fabric as soon as the paper pattern is removed.

Understitching

A row of straight machine stitching worked on the right side of the fabric close to the seam line on the facing edge of a garment. The seam allowance is trimmed, layered and clipped and then pressed to the side where the understitching will be sewn. It helps the facing to lie flat on the inside of the garment.

Topstitching

Worked on the right side of the garment using a slightly longer machine stitch, this can be decorative or functional. It can be worked with double strands of ordinary thread or thicker thread. When using double thread, either put cotton reels on two spool pins or, if your machine has only one spool pin, put two bobbins (one on top of the other) on one pin!

Edge stitching

A row of machine stitching worked very close to the finished edge. It can be used on pockets, pleats, collars and lapels as well as on the folded edge of a flat fell seam.

Application of Zigzag Stitch

Basic zigzag stitch in varying widths is invaluable for neatening the edge of seams or for fashioning the edges of buttonholes